Women's Cross Country

Pair of Eighth-Place Finishes for CSUN at Big West Cross Country Championships

Oct 27, 2012

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Both the Cal State Northridge cross country teams finished eighth Saturday at the Big West Championships as the men's team finished with 227 points while the women tallied 255 at the UC Riverside Ag/Ops Course.

Cal Poly captured both the men's and women's titles as the Mustang men's team collected its second straight title and 12th in the past 15 seasons while the women's program nabbed its first conference crown since 2001.

Hunter Hays was the top CSUN runner on either the men's or women's side as the senior finished the 8k race 36th in a time of 25:58.2. Hays' 36th-place finish is a career-best after finishing 63rd in 2011 and 42nd in 2010.

Also for the Matador men, Martin Santillan finished 54th in a time of 27:38.3 in his first conference championship meet. Steven Gonzales finished 57th in 28:01.7, Julio Mora finished 58th in 28:24.6, Marcelo Rodales finished 60th in 28:45.6, Ezekial Glass finished 61st in 30:37.2 and Eddie Garcia was 62nd in 31:00.2.

The CSUN men took a total of 227 points and with an average time of 27:45.68.

In the women's 6,000 meter race that opened up the championships, Araceli Zainos paced the Matadors as she has done all season. Zainos placed 39th in a time of 21:54.1 after finishing 53rd in 22:57.4 in 2011.